marked upon the severity of the storm, inquired
what distance I had travelled, and expressed amazement that on such a
day, when mists were floating, any one could have ventured to cover so
much dangerous mountain-country,--which he estimated as nearly thirty
miles in extent. Beyond observing that my interlocutor was friendly
in manner and knew the country intimately, I do not remember to have
reflected either then or afterwards upon his personality except
perhaps that he might have answered to Wordsworth's scarcely definite
description of his illustrious friend as "a noticeable man," with
the further parallel, I think, of possessing "large grey eyes." After
attending to the obvious necessity of dry garments in exchange for wet
ones, and otherwise comforting myself after a fatiguing day's march, I
descended to the drawing-room of the hotel, where a company of persons
were trying, with that too formal cordiality peculiar to English people,
who are accidentally thrown together in the course of a holiday, to get
rid of the depression which results upon dishearteningly unpropitious
weather. Music, as usual, was the gracious angel employed to banish the
fiend of ennui, but among those who took no part either in the singing
or playing, other than that of an enforced auditor, was the elderly
gentleman, my quondam acquaintance of the porch, who stood apart in an
alcove looking through a window. I stepped up to him and renewed our
talk. The storm had rather increased than abated since my arrival; the
thunder which before had rumbled over the distant Langdale Pikes was
breaking in sharp peals over our heads, and flashes of sheeted lightning
lit up the gathering darkness that lay between us and Castle Crag.
A playful allusion to "poor Tom" and to King Lear's undisputed sole
enjoyment of such a scene (except as viewed from the ambush of a
comfortable hotel) led to the discovery, very welcome to both at a
moment when we were at bay for an evening's occupation, that besides
knowledge and love of the country round about us, we had in common
some knowledge and much love of the far wider realm of books. Thereupon
ensued a talk chiefly on authors and their works which lasted until long
after the music had ceased, until the elemental as well as instrumental
storm had passed, and the guests had slipped away one after one, and the
last remaining servant of the house had, by the introduction of a
couple of candles, given us a palpable hint that